


Catch Me

by betsytheoven



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Flirting, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-10
Updated: 2016-01-10
Packaged: 2018-05-12 23:23:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,668
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5685511
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/betsytheoven/pseuds/betsytheoven
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Holster decides it is his Captainly Duty to continue checking practices with Bitty. </p><p>(Being Captain never meant he had to refrain from flirting)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Catch Me

**Author's Note:**

> Oh gosh this a super short fic that I may continue into a larger fic but I loved writing Holster's terrible flirting so much.

“Bits, we gotta keep up the checking practice.” 

Bitty set his fresh cup of coffee down on the table and looked up at Holster, only to see him staring intensely down at his hands. He looked awkward, but then again he always seemed just a bit too big to fit in at the small tables dispersed throughout Annie’s.

“I know you played really well last year, and you got checked in the final and got back up and everything, which was amazing dude, but--” Holster pulled in a soft breath before he turned his eyes away from his rapidly cooling coffee to settle on Bitty, “the coaches are worried.”

Bitty looked down at his coffee and softly rubbed the lip of the mug with his thumb.

“They’re worried I lost that progress over the summer.”

It wasn’t a question, not really. Bitty was worried about the same thing, if he was being honest. 

“They are, but I’m not. Rans isn’t either.” Holster huffed a bit before kicking Bitty’s shin under the table. 

“Besides, didn’t they see those beautiful turnovers you were making yesterday in practice? And those agility drills, don’t even get me started!” 

This time Bitty kicked Holster’s shin with a laugh just barely escaping between his lips. Holster was captain for a variety of reasons, but this was by far Bitty’s favorite. When necessary, Holster was serious and dealt with things well, but he was always looking out for everyone else and making sure everyone else could find a way to smile. 

“So checking practice? Well, at least I won’t have to get up at such a god-forsaken hour this time!” his quick sip of coffee soon turned into a leveled glare over the edge of the cup when Holster started scratching his neck and looking anywhere but at Bitty. 

“Adam Birkholtz, don’t you dare tell me that I have to get up before the sun only to be slammed into the boards for another year.”

Shoulders hunched, Holster put on his best puppy dog face, a valiant attempt to rival Chowder’s. 

“But Bits, it’s the only time I could schedule the ice! It’s not  _ my _ fault the women’s team needs the ice at night!”

With a sigh, Bitty dropped his head to the table. And here he thought he would actually get some sleep now that Jack wasn’t captain. 

“I’ll make you breakfast every morning that we have practice!” Holster cooed from across the table, trying to convince Bitty like he had any choice in the matter. 

He looked up to see Holster’s head tilted to the side, a tentative smile growing on his face and a few hairs falling into his eyes. It would be nice not to have to make himself breakfast most mornings or be subjected to a lukewarm dining hall breakfast after an hour of checking. 

“When do we start?”

* * *

 

A week later, both boys slowly trudged into Faber instead of staying in bed like every other person on campus and probably in the world. Bitty was munching on one of the granola bars he had whipped up for the team, while Holster chatted away about some of the plays he and Rans had been working on over the summer. It was quite peaceful, even in the silences that peppered the walk, which was probably good considering that he wouldn’t get much peace once they were at the rink.

“So what all did you and Jack get up to at these practices last year?” Holster asked as he pulled the rink door open for Bitty. 

“Oh you know, we actually just gossiped about y’all. No checking, just chitchattin’.” Bitty smirked as he stepped onto the ice. 

“I knew it! I  _ told _ Rans it’s always the cute ones that’ll betray you!” Holster skated past him on the ice, leaving Bitty to shake his head at his antics. 

They warmed up with a few laps and a few failed attempts at teaching Holster how to spin, before Holster met Bitty behind the net. 

“So Jack just...checked you?” Bitty shrugged, “For an hour? Seriously?”

Bitty laughed and knocked his shoulder against Holster’s. “You make it sound silly. He got me used to getting back up off the ice and learning to take a hit even when I’m not bracing for it.”

“So...he just checked you for an hour.” the unimpressed look from Bitty pulled a laugh out of Holster, who held his hands in the air in surrender. 

“No, no I’m not complaining. I just didn’t think my job as Responsible Captain would mean just getting to slam into you.” 

Holster may have been skating away to get into a position to skate up to Bitty, but Bitty’s brain was still reeling from Holster’s poor phrasing. That darn boy didn’t hear what he said half the time, good lord. 

“Ok, ready?” 

“You’re not supposed to warn m---” Bitty hit the plexiglass with a wince but stayed upright. 

“C’mon Bits, skate out of it!” Holster joked from a few feet away but his brow was still wrinkled. 

Bitty pushed away from the edge and looked over at him skeptically. “What position do you want me to skate to?”

He quickly shook his head and skated back towards Bitty, “Nah Bits, that’s just... too stiff. You have to practice getting hit with momentum and skating out with that same momentum. No patterns or positions, ok? Here’s what we are going to do: we’re going to skate around the rink a few times and I’ll check you randomly and you have to try to get up and catch me before I do a full loop around the rink. Every time you manage to tag me after a check is a point for you, every time you don’t tag me is a point for me.”

Of course Holster was making a competition out of it, he was the one who started running games at practice that had the team racing harder and shooting more because they wanted to win whatever arbitrary game he had just come up with. (Ransom always came up with a simple but good prize for the winners, it worked well.)

So he skated out, and Holster’s first check had him into the glass, but not down. He raced to catch up to Holster, catching him rather quickly. 

“Tag, you’re it!”

Bitty bolted past him so he would be free from a check for at least a little while. It wasn’t until they were near the penalty box that Holster hit him again, this time pushing Bitty to the ice. Holster slowly skated off, eyes trained on Bitty. Bitty tried to get up, but before he knew it, Holster had skated around the rink and was helping him up. 

“Hey, one point doesn’t determine the game. You can do this, Bits.”

So they went again. And Bitty could almost always skate out of the hits that didn’t take him off his feet. But he still struggled with the ones that left him on his stomach or his back. 

Holster checked him into the plexi and Bitty fell onto his back, so Holster skated backwards away from him to make sure he could get up. But he got up this time. And it’s like his first cup of coffee all over again, so he tore towards Holster and Holster scrambled to turn around to skate away from him but Bitty tackled him in a weak attempt at a check. Holster was still scrambling to turn around with a laugh, so they both ended up on the ice. Holster was on his back with Bitty’s breathing hard on top of him and somehow they both were laughing so hard that Bitty has to rest his forehead on Holster’s chest to catch his breath. 

“You want to go again? That felt pretty good!” Bitty smiled down at Holster, an angle he was very unaccustomed to.

“I dunno Bits, I’m quite comfortable here.” he smirked up at Bitty, who only rolled his eyes and pushed himself up off of Holster. 

“Well, I’ve got a point on the board now, I don’t think now is the time to give me an easy win.” Bitty started skating away backwards. 

Holster chuckled and pushed himself up off the ice and skated after Bitty, muttering “Easy, my ass.”

Near the end of the hour, Bitty and Holster were almost even for points. Bitty was still flinching and Holster resolved to talk to Ransom about maybe talking to Bits about it--that sort of reaction didn’t just come from a bad hit. It came from bullying or something worse--but Bitty was laughing on the ice and almost having a good time. 

Holster checked him into the boards in front of the visitor’s bench on their last round, but instead of Bitty falling and chasing him, Bitty grabbed Holster’s biceps and pulled him down with him. He was laughing and squirming underneath Holster, but he did manage to call out, “And the last point goes to Bittle! He wins!” 

Even if Holster had the heart to say that technically they were tied for points now, he couldn’t say anything because Bitty literally looked like a sunrise in that moment. Looking up at him with the windows framing his face, Bitty was gorgeous and unexpected in an expected sort of way. He looked like a hug felt and Holster was speechless. 

Amused at Holster zoning out, Bitty waved a hand in front of his face, “Earth to Captain Holtz?”

He laughed and pulled himself up, along with Bitty who still had a (blessedly) firm grip on his biceps. 

“I hate to break this to ya Bits, but we are all tied up!” Bitty raised an eyebrow but also smiled a little bit, only encouraging him. 

“The tiebreaker is for you to catch me and check me into the boards. Catch me if you can!” He winked and bolted off, Bitty in hot pursuit. 

Holster sent a mental thanks to Jack for checking practice. 

**Author's Note:**

> Come talk about it over on [my tumblr](http://betsytheoven.tumblr.com/)?


End file.
